Lights, how much is a life worth?

[mjr]

Obviously, having a decent set of lights is basically an exercise in self preservation, but it is also a legal requirement.

And do all the bikes you ride at night fulfil the legal requirement, in full? Despite what I've written above, one of mine doesn't: its back light has a steady mode but no British Standard or equivalent approval, as far as I know.

There's no excuse for dazzling but a combination of questionable legislation, rubbish retailing and negligible enforcement makes it pretty fiddly to fulfil the legal requirement.

 

[Mugshot]

I rode home today along the seafront bike path. Met a friend on the way and we rode some of the way together. When we were about two miles from the Mumbles, we saw an extraordinary white light at the bike path level. I thought something like this must have pulled onto the path:

As we got closer it was apparent that it was a single ludicrous lamp. We eventually closed on the light source - a cyclist (as he approached we could see nothing beyond the light). I said 'Keep the light down a bit, mate!' He said 'Get farked'. Which was nice.

I have two of the blighters that blind me most evenings on the unlit stretch of NCN4 I use regularly, one of them seems to have realised that my polite pointing it out one evening, followed by rather louder complaining the next time I saw him, followed by shouting the next time I saw him was for good reason and he now covers it up when he sees me approaching, I think I need to introduce some fruitier language for the other one though.

 

[mickle]

Does anyone have an opinion on high powered lazer pens affixed to the helmet or sweatband and used to persuade nobbers to turn their lights down?

 

[benb]

Does anyone have an opinion on high powered lazer pens affixed to the helmet or sweatband and used to persuade nobbers to turn their lights down?

I only have an opinion that it's laser, not lazer.
Light
Amplification by
Stimulated
Emission of
Radiation

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I only have an opinion that it's laser, not lazer.
Light
Amplification by
Stimulated
Emission of
Radiation

You say potato...

 

[winjim]

I only have an opinion that it's laser, not lazer.
Light
Amplification by
Stimulated
Emission of
Radiation

It's lazer in the West Country.

 

[benb]

It's lazer in the West Country.

No, it's lazerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[Dan B]

And do all the bikes you ride at night fulfil the legal requirement, in full? Despite what I've written above, one of mine doesn't: its back light has a steady mode but no British Standard or equivalent approval, as far as I know.

AFAICR any light with a quick-release bracket (i.e. that you can change the angle of without use of tools) does not meet the BS requirement.

Happy to say that my front light meets the German standard. The rear is a Smart 1W jobbie and I can't remember if is has a steady mode or not

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Who gives a toss about useless out-dated formerly gold-standard but now badly tarnished and severely dented BS standards apart, I guess, from kippers?

 

[Tin Pot]

I only have an opinion that it's laser, not lazer.
Light
Amplification by
Stimulated
Emission of
Radiation

Lasers are afixed to sharks, everyone frickin' knows that.

I think 'blaster' is what we would all like to see on bikes, cars and peds.

 

[steveindenmark]

We complain about cyclists with no lights...

We complain about cyclists with lights that are too bright.....

We complain......

 

[winjim]

We complain about cyclists with no lights...

We complain about cyclists with lights that are too bright.....

We complain......

We complain that motorists break the law, then we claim that the law is outdated and poorly enforced so shouldn't apply to us.

(Whoever "we" are...)

 

[winjim]

That is poor equivalence. The law on cycle lighting is awful but fortunately not enforced in detail. Other laws motorists break are well established and reasonably clear.

QED

 

[Turbo Rider]

Umm, I think it's slightly silly for anyone to make themselves vulnerable but therein lies a completely different question really. My route is reasonably well lit, so I think I could probably get away with no lights and be perfectly safe, even in the darkest parts. I choose to use lights, but that's more so I can be seen while I skim through slow moving or stopped traffic, in case people get the sudden inclination to swerve in on me. That said, if I were more cautious and took things slowly then I really can't see a safety issue at all and I'd add that if people have trouble seeing me then they really should pop down to the optician.

As for the value of life, well that's a deep, personal question and I haven't the time to interview everyone, so I really couldn't answer it, but I imagine that some people really couldn't give a sh1t, no, and some might even be praying to get hit.

On another note though, I was riding home this fine evening and I found myself following another cyclist. I can confirm that until I got very close to them, I couldn't see that they were wearing high-viz so I'm very happy that I never spent a penny on that poop

 

[Hip Priest]

I'm lit up by the sparks coming from my bottom bracket.